The Unseen Here and
Now . . .
Stuart
Revercomb
Stuart
Revercomb is a marketing consultant and joyously married father of four
children. He seems to remember someone once telling him he ought to be
a writer. "The Unseen Here and Now" -- Thursdays.
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"Thursday's Fare"
Just an Expression...
No matter how much you try to avoid them, you'll catch yourself using one sooner or later...
"That boy turned out to be a wolf in sheep's clothing..."
"She just sat around like a bump on a log..."
"Shower? I'm fresh as a morning daisy..."
"Early bird gets the worm, son..."
"He's sleeping like a baby..." (Now there's an oxymoron).
Expressions are generally true, (save that last one) - real life examples that bring clearer meaning to situations that rarely need it. If you've ever had the occasion to remark, "He ain't got the sense God gave a goose...", chances are, you didn't really need to point it out. Everyone probably understood it by then - except maybe the fellow being compared to a pigheaded waterfowl.
Oops, there I go... using a one- worded expression. There are plenty of those too - you can't get away from the bloomin' things.
Geez... "Blooming"... I wonder how that one got started...
Expressions originate from all over the country, but no one has honed them better than "us Southerners" (that's 4 syllables : Suh-uh-the-ners). And we come up with the best ones too. For example a common expression from "up Nawth", (according to a website responsible for tracking such things), is, and I quote : "It's like trying to push a wet rope up hill..." (Somers Pt. N.J.)
This is a perfect example of an expression not originating in the South - its true, it gets the point across, and it helps-you better understand the obvious. But it does so with little to no humor and uses far too few words for the Southern palette. If you're from Georgia, you'd probably say something more like : "Its like teachin' a team of blind mules to tap dance to Dixie in a thunderstorm on the Fourth of July..."
I just made that up, of course, but it has all the characteristics of a Southern expression - it too, gets the point across and would be true, (if attempted). But it also has at least a glimmer of humor, and enough extraneous information to qualify as definitively Southern. But Southern expressions can also be extremely short depending on the speakers patience and mood.
"You lie like a rug."
"Your driveway doesn't go all the way to the house, does it boy..."
"You just bought yourself a five gallon jug o'whipass."
If a Southerner serves you up a short and succinct expression, its generally best just to back on out of the room.
I heard an expression the other day that made me wish I had backed out of the room a bit earlier. I think I've heard it before, but its been years. "The truth of the matter is...", said the person being interviewed on National Public Radio, "Hell, is other people..."
Now there's an up-lifting expression. If Old Scratch had one thing he'd want us to believe, that would probably be it.
"Hell, is other people."
I let it sink in for a moment. I realized that what really bothered me about it, was that in many ways it was true. Hell really can be other people. Who hasn't, at one point in their lives - if not every day, encountered people who's actions and demeanor warrant just such an expression. People who, whether they intended to or not, just plain got in the way or added to a burden that was already overbearing :
- the over-talkative lady that traps you on the street while you're already late for an appointment...
- the "old friend" that's had entirely too much to drink and is telling you the same long-winded story you heard the last time you saw him...
- the street bum with his pants around his knees that begs for a ride while you're trying to get your children in the car...
It would be easy to argue that if Hell is such people, then there are others who are certainly Heaven :
- the smile on your son's face as he leaps from the side of the pool into your arms for the first time...
- the sincere thanks from a friend who appreciated a kind word spoken months before...
- the joy of a stranger as he or she beholds the beauty of something you have long appreciated...
But your son, your friend and the stranger are ultimately no more "Heaven" than the over-talkative lady, old friend and street bum are "Hell". It's the situation they find themselves in that dictates their definition. Just as your son brings you joys greater than you knew existed in this world, he can also bring you pains and burdens you never imagined, and chances are at some point he will. The same applies to the "old friend" who he is perhaps only one smart decision away from becoming a new creation in the eyes and likeness of his maker, and a blessing to all he has known.
Hell is other people?
No - it is in the scenes and dreams in which we paint ourselves and live our lives that little bits of heaven and hell are found - it is the way we chose to express our life that counts the most in the end.
The next time you find yourself in a situation where someone is expressing the lesser side of theirs - try for a moment to imagine them as a fulfillment of all they have the potential to be. And if possible help them along towards the goal.
You may be the best chance they have of making it.